SPROUSE New information released by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office on Monday showed a local woman accused in the fatal stabbing of her boyfriend was found applying pressure to his wounds when officers arrived at the scene.

Patricia Ann Sprouse, 50, of Marietta Road, was booked on a murder charge Sunday for the early morning stabbing death of Michael Carpenter, 49, also of Marietta Road.

Police were summoned to 131 Marietta Road at about 5:42 a.m. Nov. 1 and an officer wrote in a report that he noticed Carpenter lying on a couch with two chest wounds. Sprouse was standing beside Carpenter and was applying pressure to a puncture wound on his chest, the officer wrote.

Sprouse, who remains at the Cherokee County Detention Center, had a brief hearing Monday afternoon before Magistrate Judge Mike Clary, who advised her of the charge against her as well as her right to request a preliminary hearing.

“As a Magistrate Court judge I cannot set your bond,” he told her.

Sprouse, who answered all of the judge’s questions with simple yes or no answers, will have to petition a Circuit Court judge in General Sessions Court to have a bond set.

The stabbing reportedly occurred during a domestic dispute.

“The victim and a reported live-in girlfriend were reportedly arguing when the incident escalated to violence,” Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said Sunday while confirming Carpenter’s death.

Fowler said on Tuesday that an autopsy performed in Newberry showed Carpenter died from a stab wound to his chest that penetrated his heart.

The State Law Enforcement Division shows no criminal history in South Carolina for a Michael Carpenter with the date of birth listed in a Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office incident report.

SLED showed only a 1986 burglary conviction, a 1992 shoplifting conviction and arrests for public disorderly conduct and trespassing for Sprouse. There was no indication in the SLED report what became of the last two charges.